A New Veronica
by Amydali86
Summary: or so we think. Continues the Season 4 presentation offered at a special feature on the season 3 DVDs. Veronica and the handsome Agent Carter (the one that was paired with her for the New Horizons case, etc). I detected come minor URST while watching the presentation, thought it would amusing for her to paired with someone new- No Logan or Piz, some Wallace, Mac and Parker (maybe).
1. From Quantico to Los Angeles

A New Veronica: a Season 4 fan fiction

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Veronica Mars. Rob Thomas does and hopefully he will convince a studio and the actors make a movie soon.

Author's Note: So this is basically the continuation of the unaired premiere of season 4. I loved it so much! It gave me millions of ideas and I had to sleep on it, to boil it down to only a few hundred. Please Please review!

The Los Angeles FBI Headquarters was a long way from Hearst College. Not it distance, but in personal progress. Veronica had to take a deep breath before getting off the elevator. She walked past the two agents who got into the FBI through nepotism and language skills; or so she assumed, considering the fact that they checked her out and immediately dismissed her as a non-threat. That was their big mistake numero uno.

_They're going to be late._ Second mistake; they didn't do their homework. Special Agent Hendricks liked punctuality. _Always do your research. _ She walked into the conference room, and saw her rival from Quantico. Callie Farmer. She was a real challenge to work with, but Veronica liked and respected her. They were friendly rivals. Veronica sat down and almost to the second, her new boss walked in. He looked slightly scruffy; he hadn't shaved in weeks. Right away, he started to speak.

He mentioned the new faces in the room, new agents from Quantico. Hendricks said that the older agents should make use of them- "they're young and tireless." She and Callie glanced over at the late newbies and Veronica hid her smirk. Hendricks started to talk about the Book Rate Bomber, and identified the main suspect, a Doctor Feodor Sherbock, who'd last been spotted ten days ago.

Hendricks asked a young agent (not a new agent, just young), "Carter, tell us what you've got on Harturian."

"We're getting nothing on the phone and most of his business is done in a booth at his strip club," he paused, "so we need someone on the inside, posing as a waitress, or as an exotic dancer."

Hendricks asked, "Any volunteers?"

Someone coughed, "Send in one of the newbies."

Veronica and Callie looked at each, measuring their response, Veronica finally quipped, "I'm a terrible dancer."

"We'll work on that," Hendricks said.

Hendricks started talking about the New Horizons reform school for bad girls, "we've received a report that the principal is sexually abusing the young ladies, so we're gonna need someone who's ready to go back to high school."

There was a pause of silence as the older agents looked over at Veronica and Callie.

Veronica asked, "So the strip club, is that just topless, or fully nude?"

She caught Carter looking over at her. He smirked. He reminded her of Don Lamb, ironically, but obviously, he had to be smarter than the now deceased Sheriff of Neptune.

Callie raised her hand, telling the other agents, "I'll go in at the strip club."

Veronica volunteered for the New Horizons assignment. And Carter was still looking at her, with a slow curl of the lips, his blue eyes amused. He was very attractive, in the way, that guys know that they're attractive. Veronica slightly tilted her head, and Carter stopped staring at her. A young blond man came into the room, breathless. Hendricks looked up.

"Ah, I thought we had another one. Thanks so much for joining us, son."

"Sorry, sir. I didn't realize L.A. had so much bad traffic."

Veronica could feel a spurt of surprise. _Great, what's he doing here?_

BREAK LINE _ BREAK LINE

Principal Harris said behind his desk, and already Veronica wanted to throw up. Reading the case file had done nothing more than make her eager to put this bastard into a cage for as long as possible. She waited while he read the file Carter had helped her put together with her undercover alias. Harris tapped his pen, which made her want to break it and stab him with it.

"You've been a very busy girl. Three counts possession, two counts robbery, two counts assault," he listed, "So what's your sob story?"

She lightly said, "I told Uncle Willy not to touch me there. All downhill from there," she leaned forward, "look, you couldn't figure me out with a idiot's guide and Rosetta Stone, so can I just go back to my room?" she leaned back. "There's lesbians to fend off and hazing rituals to be endured. I'm on a schedule."

"Do you find yourself missing your daughter?" the principal slash warden asked.

Veronica had tears in her eyes. Her lips tightened as she swallowed, "What? Do you get extra vacation days if you make me cry?"

"I'm sure your mother is taking good care of her. She's stopped huffing paint by now, right?" Harris pulled out a tape player from his desk drawer, hit play. The song, "Dance on my shoes," was one of the things the reports had mentioned, and Veronica knew the moment was coming, "I'll bet that baby girl looks just like her mama. A little blonde slice of heaven." He held her file, "this doesn't tell me anything." He frisbeed the file onto his blotter. He walked around Veronica, "tell me who you are." He put his hands on her shoulders, and Veronica had to resist the urge to flip him over her shoulder, the way the Academy instructors had shown her. "Really." He released her, and walked to the window.

She continued chewing her gum, and he loosened his tie, "You seem like a bright girl." He finally said, "spit the gum out," and she leaned over to the trash, dropping the ball of gum from her mouth into the trash. She rolled her eyes when he said, "Maybe you can show me what you have to contribute to society." She could remember Carter telling her, as he helped her attach the wire to her bra (as if that wasn't embarrassing enough), to get Harris to say the exact words on tape. The exact exchange- sex (act) for early release- and they would have him. Harris closed the venetian blinds, and Veronica prayed that nothing went wrong with the recording.

Harris sat on the desk, unzipping his pants, and Veronica acted like she didn't know where this was going, "What do you call that?" She could see him boxers, and she had to resist the urge to kick him where it would hurt. She had to get him to say the words.

"A membership- to the guess who is going home to her little girl two months early club."

"Just so we're clear. I get two months shaved off my sentence if I perform a sex act on you?"

"My but we are formal."

"We are. We like direction. Look, I am willing to take a ride, if it gets me to where I want to be."

"You'll be home by Christmas."

Carter had told her to get out of there as soon as she had the words. She had the words. Her cue to leave.

She started to stand up, "well, I have a lot to think about."

"Thinking time is over, little bitch," Harris said, shoving her back into the chair, "time to pay up."

"My virginity is a gift. A precious gift," Veronica said, trying to quip her way out.

"Well, consider this my birthday," He started to shove his pants down his legs.

"Stop. Pull your pants back up. I'm FBI and you're under arrest." Veronica stood up completely.

"Seriously?!" Harris asked.

"Do want to see my badge?"

Suddenly, Harris bolted out of the office and out of the building. Veronica was momentarily surprised, but chased after him. He was holding up his pants, trying to refasten his pants and his belt buckle. Veronica knew she was out of shape when she could keep up with a man older than her father and he was slightly plump to boot. _Time to hit the gym, Veronica._

Luckily, Carter chose that moment to open the sedan car door, and the creepy principal hit the door, and fell. Carter leapt out of the car, cuffed him, while Veronica stood panting.

"I had him you know."

"Yeah, and what were you going to do with him?"

"Oh, spike him like a football and do the wave. Or a celebratory robot. Moonwalk perhaps. Something for the kids." She had her hands on her hips and

Carter said, "and I thought you didn't have it in you."

She scoffed, but remembered the way he had smirked at her in the conference room. Which was right before Seth had walked right into the room and before she had that awkward conservation with Seth.

_ Break line _

That night, she and Carter sat in the sedan watching a building. In the dark. She wasn't used to doing stakeouts with another person besides her father or Back-up, the overprotective pitbull. When she helped her dad in the P.I. biz, it had been just her and her camera. With the powerful zoom lens. She sat quietly for as long as she could before the silence unnerved her and made her ask, "So is this how it is? Horny principals by day, mad bombers by night?"

Carter made a show of glancing at his watch, "Well, I'll give you credit. You're better than most rookies on a stakeout. Forty-five minutes of silence. Gotta be a record."

"I could tell you're thrilled to be working with me," Veronica said.

"How could you tell?"

"Oh, we learned all about that at Quantico. Vocal inflection, body language." She looked at him before stressing, "Plus I heard you ask Hendricks why you were getting stuck with Barbie." His dimples flashed as he heard his words tossed back at him. "You've read my file, so don't tell anyone my middle name."

There was a pause before he said "Your middle name?" just as she said, "You made it through the academy?" He lifted his finger in acknowledgement for her teasing him and earning a point. He smiled, and she could see his dimples again. _Great. _She was a sucker for dimples.

"Think our guy is gonna show?"

"I don't think our guy is our guy. I think he's dead, and the real Book Rate Bomber murdered him."

"Is this one of those gut feelings I've heard so much about?" Veronica agreed with Carter actually. She'd read the file, and had applied some of the criminal profiling she'd learned from her dad, Professor Landry, and Quantico to make an educated guess that the FBI was looking at the wrong guy. But she wanted to hear Carter's reasoning.

"Oh, he's got the mindset of a radical. But he doesn't have the patience. No, the bomb maker is meticulous, obsessive. Anal."

Her eyes widened before she smiled and teased him, "so you're a better profiler than all the FBI's top guys who pegged the professor?"

"Yes," Carter said, seriously.

Veronica laughed quietly. He turned to look at her, "You laugh because you don't whether or not I'm serious. And if I am right, that might mean I am smarter than you. And that would be just awful, because you've always been the smartest person in the room."

Veronica thought, _Well he's got me pegged. Mostly._

He continued, "See, I'm that good."

_ Break line _

The next day Hendricks mentioned to Veronica that he had missed seeing her at the bar the night before. _Great a missed opportunity to subtly ass kiss the boss. _Not that she wanted to be seen as a brown-noser, but she didn't want to give the other rookies a lead over her. Not even a little bit. She wanted to stay on the Book Rate Bomber case, and have the chance to work more with Carter. Stakeouts with him were fun, she discovered. It was interesting, and her stomach got a little thrill whenever he flashed those dimples at her or smirked, his gray-blue eyes half laughing, half serious. _Shit, I'm waxing poetic over a senior agent. Next thing you know, I'll be writing him love poems. _

_-Break line- _

Callie and Veronica questioned a former student of the still missing professor. Veronica asked, "You took three classes from him?"

"Oh, yeah. The guy is batshit crazy. A train wreck. Have you read his manifesto?"

"You have copy?" Veronica asked.

The guy rubbed his hands together, "sure I have a copy. I'll go dig it up."

He disappeared into the next room.

"So drinks with Hendricks?"

"Yeah, he seems alright." Callie tilted her head, "Outside of the office."

"Mind letting me know next time?"

"That my job?" Callie returned.

"It's just that Hendricks told me he told that hotshot rook to let everyone know."

"He calls everyone hotshot. Seth is the one that told me."

Veronica rolled her eyes in realization. _Of course. Seth has become somewhat of a jackass. Logan 2.0 basically, post- Lilly, not Logan 1.0 the friend or 3.0 the boyfriend and sometimes awkward, but a washed out version of the psychotic jackass. I guess every FBI field office needs one._

Veronica let her eyes wander the room- she saw the carefully put together boats in a bottle, the ocd organized plastic containers of books. _Meticulous, obsessive, _Carter had said. _Oh God, no one looked at Dr. Sherbock's students._ She opened the closet door and bolted inside. "Veronica? Did you see something?" Callie roved her eyes over the bookshelves and pantry, but didn't see or sense anything. Veronica saw more boats in a bottle, and she picked up a book and opened it. The book was hollowed out- like the bomber's modus operandi. She heard a grunted scream outside the closet, and set the book down. She pulled her gun, and cautiously stepped outside of the closet. The scrawny guy had a butcher knife up to Callie's neck. "Drop it, or I'll slice her ear to ear."

Veronica gripped the gun tighter. Thanks to her dad training her in using a gun since he was in the sheriff's office and to Quantico, she was a terrific shot. But she didn't want to risk Callie getting killed. She said, "You kill her, you're dead before she even hits the floor."

His hand tightened, and his eyes held a fanatical light, "At least one of you will be dead."

Callie met Veronica's eyes. They'd been in training together since the beginning of Academy- and they'd been roommates for a short time. They knew every facial expression of each other, even if they weren't exactly friends, and they'd had already come up with several preplanned signals for situations like this. There was no fear in Callie's eyes, just trust that Veronica would do her part.

Callie let her body go limp and heavy, and her weight unbalanced her captor's hold. His hold on her slipped and she let her body fall to the ground. Before he could do anything else, Veronica fired a shot straight into his heart. She gasped, and watched his body fall to the ground, and the blood bloomed upon his chest. She breathed in, loosened her grip on her weapon slightly, looked over at Callie and simply asked, "A pretend faint? Really?"

Callie looked up from her horizontal position on the floor and grimaced, "It works every time, right?" Veronica walked over to prone bomber and checked for a pulse. He was dead. Veronica had nothing if not an accurate eye and gun. Veronica nodded, told Callie, call it in, and let Carter know he was right."

Callie nodded, using her cell phone to dial Carter who was parked in front of the building he and Veronica had previously staked out.

-Break line _

Hours later:

Veronica sat on the bed in the dismal hotel room she was still renting. She had yet to find a place near the field office that was both cheap and livable. She wasn't picky, she was just discerning. Anyway, the door had more locks on it than the room she had stayed in while visiting New York, and she had carefully checked each one before curling up on the bed. She wasn't sad, or upset exactly. She couldn't pinpoint how she felt, but she had tears in her eyes, a wet tissue in her hand, and felt like bawling like a five year old who skinned his knees on the playground.

There was knock on the door. She debated answering it- she was in a ratty bathrobe, and her mascara was in streaks on her face. She peaked out of the peep hole and saw a distorted version of Carter. She opened the door, and he pretended not to see her tearstained face. "I thought you might be hungry, so I brought some take out." He held up a bag with the name of a nearby Chinese food place. She let him in, and she sat back down on the sagging bed. He sat next to her, and opened the food containers, passing one to her, taking another for himself.

"How did you know?"

"I saw a receipt for the place fall out of your pocket one day, thought it might be-"

"No. How did you know I needed someone? When I didn't even know until I saw your face."

"I remembered my first fatal take down. It's harsh."

"Thanks," she said, and she finally broke down, sobbing hard. Carter set the food down and took her in his arms. He placed his hand on her hair, stroking her gently, just letting her release the emotions. He scooted backward onto the bed, leaning his head on the pillows, and letting her head rest on his chest while she sobbed out her fears, and the tension the shooting had given her. Eventually, she calmed down, and he could feel her breathing slow down. She fell asleep in his arms, and he looked down at her pretty and petite features, running his fingers over her eyebrows, and across her cheeks.

In the short time he'd come to know her- longer than she thought, actually, he'd come to respect Veronica. He'd even fallen a little bit in love with her, and that scared him, because the time he'd known her was short. He had caught a glimpse of her in the academy in the last year, and he had thought she was very pretty. And he knew she was brilliant, because she impressed so many of the senior agents at Quantico, and already in the L.A. field office. He'd read her file- even the background stuff, like her friend getting killed four years ago, and her boyfriend Duncan kidnapping the Manning child. He knew she helped the guy- the agents had discovered from Don Lamb that the Mannings had been abusing their youngest, but not in a way that the courts could take action, because the child was in danger.(The justice system is seriously screwed, and CPS is overloaded with cases). It was all in the file, and he had pushed for her transfer to L.A. when she had requested it for her placement in a field office.

Soon, he fell asleep holding her, and he could smell the delicate scent of her skin in his dreams. He felt her legs entangled with his, and his head tilted down, so he could look at her if he woke up before she did.

Author's Note: Whew! That was way longer than I planned for the first chapter. Oh well. Remember, review, follow, and favorite. Thanks for reading.


	2. An Awkward Awakening

Chapter 2 "A New Veronica": An Awkward Awakening:

Carter's POV:

He woke up disoriented, with a warm female body in his arms. He remembered that he brought Veronica some dinner and let her cry on his shoulder. She'd fallen asleep in his arms, and he had soothed her throughout the night. Nightmares haunted her dreams and each time she whimpered or cried out, he'd simply stroked his hand down her hair. It had worked, and they'd ended up entangled in each other's limbs.

He looked down at her face and noticed her bathrobe was open, and she wasn't wearing much underneath. Her bra was plain white cotton, and Veronica had shifted around so much throughout the night that the bra was coming unfastened in the front. He tried to move the robe so that it would cover the bra, but part of the robe had become stuck under his body.

He tensed as a cell phone ring and he looked at hers, sitting on the bedside dresser. It wasn't hers, so he had to move away from her, to get into the pocket of his mussed suit jacket.

Breakline- breakline- breakline- breakline

Veronica's POV

Veronica dimly heard the trill of her cellphone. As she stirred from her slumber, she became aware of two things: the first was that she felt the warmth of a male body next to hers and that her cellphone did not use that ringtone.

She remembered that Carter had come over with Chinese take-out and he'd been her shoulder to cry on. She also remembered that she fell asleep in his arms, and that she was just wearing a ratty bathrobe, with only underclothes on underneath.

She felt his body next to hers move slowly as he shifted to answer his phone. She heard him try to keep his tone of voice quiet while speaking, and she heard him say, "Now?" in an incredulous voice, "But she had a hard day and night yesterday. She's asleep. At least, I assume she is." There was pause while the other person spoke to him. "Fine!" he snapped, and she heard him roughly turn off the phone and it clacked as he set it on the bedside table.

Veronica kept her eyes shut, and he said, "I am very observant, you've been awake since the phone rang. That was Hendricks, he told me to get up, go get you, and bring you in."

"Why?" Veronica said.

"There's been another bombing. I assume that the Book rate bomber planted it before he was killed, but if he didn't that means the bomber is at least of pair of bombers."

She sat up quickly, her eyes widening as she felt the tug on her robe. She realized he was sitting on the piece that closed the robe, and hesitantly glanced over at him. He lazed against the pillows, and she said, "Well, let's go!" He made no secret of the fact he was looking at her bra and bare skin, and she blushed. It had been awhile since a guy made her feel this way- not since the first time she and Duncan had made it to second base, and with Logan she had felt a flash of heat and danger, but Carter made her feel the way she felt with both of them. It confused her, scared her, and the two emotions combined to make her irritable. "I need coffee," she blurted out, "and I need to get ready."

Her phone rang, she picked it up. It was Wallace. _Thank the Lord._ Veronica quickly answered it, "Wallace, what's new?"

"Nothing much. How was your first week?" His casual tone had her hackles rising. They rarely called to chat- not since she broke Piz's heart- it took him a long time to forgive her for what he called, "ripping out his roommate's heart, and doing a tap dance on it."

"It was fine."

"So Callie was there?" Wallace asked, still trying to be casual.

_Ah-ha, so that was what this phone call was about_. _He wanted to get into her rival's panties. Still._ "Yes, Wallace, just like I predicted."

"I was thinking of coming to see you this weekend. Anything new going on?" Wallace asked.

"Not a good weekend, Wallace," she simply said, "look I have to go into the office, my new partner is coming to pick me up, and I still have to get ready."

"Okay, I'll call you later then," Wallace said. They hung up. Carter had moved off the bed and was futilely trying to straighten out his clothes.

"I'll just go hop into the shower," she said, finally closing her robe, and sliding off the bed. She grabbed her slacks, a shirt, and a blazer from the closet, and quickly went into the small bathroom, closing the door firmly behind her. The hot water and the steam revived her and she quickly got dressed.

She walked out of the bathroom, and Carter had borrowed her room key and gotten them the coffee she asked for. He'd also gotten them a couple of plates of food from the continental breakfast bar. She nodded in thanks, drank her coffee, ate her breakfast and they headed downstairs to his sedan.

_breakline-breakline-breakline_

FBI LA HEADQUARTERS

Veronica sat at her desk in the bullpen. She tapped her fingers on the desk, waiting for the search engine to dig some dirt on the scrawny graduate student she had shot. Carter was in a meeting with Hendricks and she was literally shut out until she had her psych evaluation. The one that was required after a fatal shooting. She had to get the shrink to sign her fit for duty form and she would be allowed back on the case. This afternoon.

She looked back at her computer screen, "Sonuvabitch," she said in shock. The scrawny asshole she had shot had a twin brother. And according to the background search, they had been separated at birth. They had been adopted by two different families, one in Northern California, and the other right here in LA. They had met at UCLA when they took the same poli-sci class and now it looked like they were teamed up together to build bombs. _Sure proves the nature part of the nature versus nurture debate._

She glanced over at the clock, and hit the print button on her computer. She picked up the documents she printed and slid them into her folder. She rose from her chair, took the elevator to the shrinks' floor. The psychiatrist that she had been assigned to was Dr. Jane Melany and the small waiting room was empty, but the red light that indicated she was with a patient was on, so she sat in one of the chairs. Soon, the light flashed off, and Callie walked out. Veronica was surprised as well Callie, but Veronica noticed also that Callie was completely composed. No sign of having nightmares, no tears that the psychiatrist had coaxed from Callie by talking about her feelings.

Veronica breathed in relief. Her experience with shrinks wasn't the best between the shrink Leanne Mars had sent her to after Lilly's murder, and Rebecca St. James, her high school guidance counselor. Shrinks always wanted to talk about feelings and Veronica knew that it was not talking that helped her, it was action.

Veronica walked into the inner office of Dr. Melany and met the green eyes of a young woman just a little older than herself. The office's carpet was a plush emerald, and held the requisite couch- a little black sofa, in fact. There was also a pair of wingback chairs upholstered in a black and green floral print. Dr. Melany motioned her into a chair and Veronica sat facing the doctor.

"How are you feeling today, Agent Mars?" the first question out of the doctor's mouth made the hairs on Veronica's neck stand up. It was the one question that the shrink she saw after Lilly's death asked every week, and the same inquiry that Ms. St. James asked her every time they saw each other.

"I'm fine," Veronica responded, abruptly. She was not a woman of words, and talking about her feelings, she preferred to act. She preferred to use the Taser she carried to let her irritation show, and she liked to investigate what dogged at her.

She consciously relaxed her body, and said, surprisingly, "I am sorry, that was rude."

The doctor said, "Why did you respond that way?"

"I have dealt with shrinks before. I do not want to talk about my feelings. I can tell you that while I regret having to take a life, I do not regret protecting my life or that of my partner. The bomber was going to slash Callie's throat and if I hadn't killed him, he could have taken my life, as well." Veronica said.

The shrink nodded, "Agent Mars, I would love to just take you at your word, and sign off your paper, but I need to know more about the situation. I need for you to describe how you felt when you saw the bomber grab your partner around her throat."

Veronica took a deep breath, "I didn't see him grab her. I was in the closet, because I saw the meticulously made ships in the bottles and that made me remember Carter's theory. He said that our bomber was meticulous and anal, and probably was obsessive compulsive. Not only was this guy meticulous, but he was totally, crazily neat and organized. I went into the closet to see if there might be more evidence and I saw more bottles with ships and I also saw a hollowed out book. I heard Callie scream, and I pulled my weapon before I walked out of the closet. He told me that he would slash her throat from ear to ear, and she let her body go limp. I shot him; made sure his knife was away from him and checked to make sure Callie was uninjured. "

Veronica finished her recitation; the therapist took her notes, and the doctor looked up, asked, "Is there anything else you need to tell me? Did you have any nightmares last night? Did someone spend time with you last night?"

Veronica shook her head, and Dr. Melany said, "If you need to talk to me, just let me know."

Veronica left, clutching her release form in her hand, glad to give it to Hendricks and continue on the case. She knocked on his door and he said, "Come in, Agent Mars. We've been expecting you. Dr. Melany phoned me and said you're cleared, which is good because I need you and Carter undercover starting tomorrow early."

Veronica was surprised, because she thought Hendricks might hesitate before sending a rookie out again so soon after a termination of a subject. Hendricks caught the surprised glance on her face before she managed to clear her face and he said, "I can count on you right?"

She nodded, and said, "Who are Carter and I going undercover as?"

"A newly married couple, Carter will be a new professor, and you will be the head of his research team. You'll be undercover for as long as it takes to catch this bomber and any other accomplices."

That reminded Veronica of what she had found before her appointment with the shrink. She held up the manila folder and told Carter and Hendricks, "That doctorate student I shot has a twin brother. They were separated at birth and they met up here at the UCLA when taking the same intro to political science course."

Carter and Hendricks looked at her with shocked expressions, and she shrugged, "Digging into people's backgrounds is something I am really good at doing."

Carter finally smirked and said, "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

Hendricks nodded. Veronica didn't mention that she had already done a background search on them, and two or three other agents in the Los Angeles team.

Veronica finally processed the undercover assignment that she and Carter had been given. A newly married couple. The thought along made her blush, for she was unwillingly attracted to Carter and she knew that it was possible that he was equally attracted to her. He was sometimes hard to read. She shook off the feeling that she was getting in too deep and looked at Hendricks, who'd explained they would be using campus housing that the college provided for visiting professors and researchers. He went over their assignments with a fine toothed comb and then asked, "Questions? Comments? Concerns? No, good. Head to wardrobe."

Line Break VMVMVMVMVMVMVM line break

Veronica rubbed the silky kimono up and down her arms. Lily had gotten her to wear silks, satins, velvets, and other fabrics that felt good next to her skin, but after she was murdered Veronica had relegated those clothes to her old life, and stuck with standard cotton. She sighed as she waited for the FBIs clothier slash seamstress slash prop master to choose clothes for her role as a professor's wife and the head of a research team. She smirked, she never thought she would get married, even for pretend, but then again, after joining her dad on his private investigations, she had seen the seedier side of marriage, the cheating, and the many money shot her camera had produced as proof to spouses of infidelity. Life takes strange turns she guessed.

Finally, her wardrobe was complete, and after a runway show for the benefit of the clothier, she was back in her pants, shirt and blazer. The clothier gave her the wardrobe in several protective dry cleaning type bags, and told her, "let me know if you need anything fancier." Veronica nodded and left the room, her arms already sore from the weight of the twenty items or so she'd been handed. Carter came out of the next, carrying an equally heavy pile. He grimaced as he eyed their heavy loads, and asked her, "ready for gadgets?"

She nodded, still feeling a little awkward from this morning, and avoided his eyes. He cursed a little bit as he watched her expression. He freed a hand from the heavy load in his arms, and grabbed her elbow. She protested futilely, and tried to pull away from him. He guided her into an empty room, dropped his pile of clothes on the nearest table, and pulled her closer. Before a protestation could escape her mouth, hard lips covered hers in a searing kiss. She felt it down to her toes, and she dropped her heavy load and wrapped her arms around his neck. His tongue teased hers in a soft rasping stroke, and she tangled her tongue with his. He tasted like coffee, and cinnamon and he carefully backed her up to the wall, stepping over her dropped clothes. She tangled her fingers in his hand, and he let go of her lips to trail his over her jawline, and down her throat. She hummed as his tongue tickled her earlobe, and she felt his hands travel down to her bottom. He lifted her a little bit and she wrapped her legs around his hips to keep leveraged up. He kissed her again, nipping at her lips and she gasped for air as his tongue slid against hers. She tilted her head back and banged her head against the wall. It brought her to her senses, even as Carter rubbed his lips against her throat.

"Stop," Veronica gasped, her legs letting go of his waist and she pushed him away.

Carter looked at her kiss swollen mouth and tousled hair, and wanted to continue. He glanced away, "I'm sorry. I was going to say that this doesn't have to be awkward for us. But then I wanted to kiss you. I got carried away."

"As did I," Veronica replied, "look, this morning was a little awkward. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you like that, and I know it was awkward when Hendricks assigned us as the undercover couple."

"I don't intend on pulling out of the assignment."

"Neither do I. So we ignore the attraction, for now," Veronica said. She bent down, picking up her lost undercover wardrobe. "We need to go get our gadgets."

He nodded, picked up his own things from the table, and he held the door open for her. They walked down the hall to the room of gadgets.

The young woman in the room looked up and smiled at the sight of Veronica.

"Mac!" Veronica set her things on the chair and hugged the brunette, "you're working here?" She and Mac hadn't spoken much since the incident with Parker- Mac didn't blame Veronica, but she knew Parker did and as Parker's roommate, she was forced to take sides, at least for a little while. Parker had since transferred colleges and Mac found a job building gadgetry for the various alphabet agencies in the United States. The agents in the CIA, FBI, and Homeland Security always needed mini-computers installed in little gadgets. She smiled at Veronica and said, "Respect the gadgets."

Carter cleared his throat, raised an eyebrow and said, "Show us the gadgets."

Mac shrugged, "Nothing too fancy. Your standard Wi-Fi in the house, connected to various micro-cameras my team has installed around campus .Twenty-four/ seven surveillance accessible by tablet, laptop, desktop, and after I input your cell numbers, your phones. Veronica, I put microphones in the necklace pendant I requested. In this watch, I've put in a flash drive that will automatically download everything from any computer once you've plugged it in. Carter, you have the tie tacks, the same type of watch, and each of you will have dummy pens that you can slip to people, and once activated they will continually be voice activated to record."

Veronica nodded and slipped on the watch, and the necklace and took a handful of the pens. Carter put on his watch, and slipped the tie tacks into his pocket. Finally, Mac inputted their numbers into the surveillance system and they grabbed their wardrobes back up. Carter led the way to his car and they placed their things into the car.

Carter drove Veronica back to the hotel, she checked out and they headed to the professor's house they would be using as their covers. It had two bedrooms, luckily, so Veronica could easily avoid him when needed for her peace of mind. He smirked when she told him that and they split their separate ways after dinner.

He prepped for the next day by cleaning his gun, checking the surveillance and relaxing. She prowled her room in her ratty bathrobe, and finally tried to sleep.

Carter's POV

He could hear a cry from across the hall and he knew she was having nightmares. He entered her room carefully, and just lied beside her, running a soothing hand through her hair. She curled deeper into his arms and he smiled, knowing the trust was rarely given, and he tightened his arm around his waist, kissing her on the forehead, and falling asleep. His heart was lost to this petite blonde, and he didn't want it back. He was content to just hold her.

Line break-line break

AN: Thank you for reading. Please review, follow, and favorite. I will try to update soon.


End file.
